Inside the Kingdom
Page 42
17 “at the front”: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, November 19, 2006.
17 Thirty of the Brothers: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, November 22, 2006.
17 friendly dentist: Hegghammer and Lacroix, p. 104.
18 “The Letters of Juhayman”: See Hegghammer and Lacroix, pp. 104, 105, for a meticulous analysis of Juhayman’s letters, once thought to be only seven, and how they were published.
18 “evil and corruption”: Hegghammer and Lacroix, p. 105.
18 “recited his thoughts”: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, February 11, 2007.
18 “a bit kooky to me”: Nabil Al-Khuwaiter, interview with author, Dhahran, January 17, 2008, and e-mail to the author, September 27, 2008.
19 “pious people in power”: Ibid.
19 “When kings enter a village”: Koran, sura 19, verse 27.
20 the identity of the Mahdi: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, September 20, 11, 2006.
20 reports of the angels: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, February 2007.
21 slipped away: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, interview with author, Riyadh, November 22, 2006.
21 “The fact that we dream”: Nasser Al-Huzaymi, “The Dreams—from Happiness to Ego.” Al-Riyadh, September 6, 2004.
23 “the Green One”: Dr. Ali Saad Al-Mosa, interview with author, Abha, June 5, 2006.
Chapter 3: Siege
24 King Khaled with horror: Kingdom interview, off-the-record, 1980.
24 in the 1960s: Reluctant to take his elder brother’s place for some time, Khaled eventually bowed to family pressure and became crown prince in 1965.
25 “important issues in Tunis”: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Riyadh, February 11, 2008.
25 driving a new Lamborghini: Information from the prince’s co-driver.
25 bullet shattered the glass: Trofimov, p. 86.
26 by nine that morning: Ibid., p. 79, based on an interview with an officer in the force.
26 escape from the Mosque: Ibid., p. 74, based on the interviews subsequently given by Ibn Subayl.
27 an emergency fatwa: Arab News, November 26, 1979.
27 a bullet had pierced his fuselage: Mahdi Zawawi, interview with author, Jeddah, April 12, 2007.
28 “snipers up in the minarets”: Khaled Al-Maeena, interview with author, Jeddah, July 10, 2006.
28 in range of the minarets: Girls’ interview, Jeddah, August 1, 2006.
28 “You’ll get us all killed!”: Matooq Jannah, interview with author, Jeddah, December 9, 2006.
28 sensed a business opportunity: Hussein Ali Shobokshi, interview with author, Jeddah, January 22, 2007.
29 Loss of life did not matter: Trofimov, p. 132.
29 had been swallowed up: Abdul Aziz Qudheibi, “Al Riyadh Yaqaddem Qissat al-Qital fil Masjid al-Haram,” Al-Riyadh, December 12, 1979.
30 the coming of the Mahdi: Trofimov, p. 134.
30 “save the Holy House of God”: Ibid., p. 120.
30 “Do not fight with them”: Koran sura 2, verse 191.
31 “had been a pupil”: Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Riyadh, February 11, 2008.
31 “people intervened for their release”: Interview with Al-Safir, Lebanon, translated by the official Saudi press agency (SPA) and published in Arab News, Jeddah, January 14, 1980.
31 “fighting inside the Sacred Mosque”: Fatwa text as translated by the Saudi Press Agency, Arab News, November 26, 1979.
31 “You have to surrender”: Trofimov, p. 152.
32 proof of his mortality: Ibid., p. 160.
33 “If my son is the Mahdi”: Ibid., p. 166.
33 aura of the evil: Ibid., p. 162.
33 death in sufficient concentrations: Ibid., p. 192.
34 helpless in their luxurious hotel: The degree of help by the French has been the subject of much speculation and exaggeration. Yaroslav Trofimov deals with it well in chapters 21 and 23 of his comprehensive book, The Siege of Mecca.
34 “had the advantage”: Turki Al-Faisal, Riyadh, interview with author, February 11, 2008.
34 oddly subdued reply: Trofimov, p. 213.
34 rebel’s head: Interview with confidant of King Fahd, Riyadh, November 17, 2008.
35 “that’s Islamic?”: Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Paris, September 2, 2006.
35 “tribal way”: This account is from one of the witnesses on the balcony.
Chapter 4: No Sunni, No Shia
37 loosened the purse strings: Dr. Majid Al-Moneef, interview with author, Riyadh, November 18, 2008.
37 “on camels’ milk”: Prince Turki Al-Faisal related this story most recently in his address to the U.S.-Arab Policy Conference in Washington, DC, October 31, 2008.
38 “Yanbu and Jubail”: Author interview with an associate of Fahd’s as crown prince, November 30, 2008.
38 ten elephants: Off-the-record interview, London.
39 anniversary of Ashura: Ali Al-Marzouq, interview with author, Qateef, January 27, 2007.
39 Arabic for “tenth”: From Ashara, the figure ten in Arabic.
39 five hundred thousand or so Shia Muslims: The precise size of the Shia population, and other issues, is well discussed in Toby Craig Jones, “Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery: Modernity. Marginalization, and the Shia Uprising of 1979,” International Journal of Middle East Studies vol 38 (2006), p. 216.
40 “my brothers”: Ali and Issa Al-Marzouq, interview with author, Al-Khobar, January 27, 2007.
41 “Ali as his master”: Nasr, pp. 37, 38.
42 “his Zulfiqar!”: Ibid., p. 37.
42 “no authority except God”: Aslan, p. 135.
43 barricade of death: Ibid., pp. 172, 173.
43 sentence of death: Sheikh Ahmed bin Hajar al-Tami, Sheikh Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab, His Fundamental Belief and Reformist Call and the Ulama, Praise Be Upon Him (Riyadh, 1999), p. 79, cited in Ibrahim, p. 23.
43 destroyed the tomb of Husayn: Ibn Bishr, The Landmark of Glorification in the History of Nejd (Riyadh, 1982), vol. 1, pp. 121-22, cited in Ibrahim, p. 23.
43 Sunni foreman: Ben Dyal, interview with author, January 22, 2008.
43 cow straddling: The cartoonist, Ali Al-Kharji, went to prison for his pains. Ahmed Al-Ajaji, interview with author, November 14, 2008.
44 got the point: Ibrahim, p. 98.
44 “criminal Al-Saud”: Quoted in Toby Craig Jones, “Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery: Modernity, Marginalization, and the Shia Uprising of 1979,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 38 (2006), p. 218.
45 “so much blood”: Ali and Issa Al-Marzouq, interview with author, Al-Khobar, January 27, 2007.
45 “remained empty”: Jon P. Parssinen, interview with author, Al-Khobar, January 15, 2008.
45 killed in the riots: Ibrahim, p. 120.
45 burned: Toby Craig Jones, “Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery.”
45 ransacked: Clive Morgan, e-mail to author, November 2, 2008.
45 “Vietnam War”: Ibid.
45 ayatollahs’take: Bronson, p. 147.
45 “not want you! ”: Toby Craig Jones, “Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery.”
Chapter 5: Vox populi, Vox Dei
46 “national opinion survey”: Quoted in the introduction to Al-Nadwah, When Sense Is Dying (Riyadh, 1980).
46 talking about the Shah: Adnan Khashoggi, interview with author, Riyadh, March 2007.
47 power of religion: Ironically, Saudi Arabia had contributed to Iran’s economic woes by increasing oil production in 1977, thus sabotaging an oil price increase on which the Shah had been depending. Andrew Scott Cooper, “Showdown at Doha: The Secret Oil Deal That Helped Sink the Shah of Iran,” Middle East Journal 62, no. 4 (Autumn 2008), p. 567.
47 “God’s punishment to us”: Interview with a member of the royal family who prefers not to be named.
48 Council of Ministers: Reported to the author by a minister of the time, Jeddah, November 30
, 2008.
48 “must move gradually”: Interview with Al-Safir, Beirut, January 9, 1980, cited in Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), vol. 23, no. 14, January 21, 1980.
48 a committee to reexamine: MEES, vol. 23, no. 23 (March 24, 1980).
48 “no coming back”: Reported to the author by a close associate of the committee member, who is now deceased.
49 “four cinemas in Jeddah”: “The first was behind the house of Zainal at the Al-Nahda Hotel in Balad. There was the Abu Safiya Cinema in Hindawiya, another opened by Fouad Jamjoom and Khalil Baghdadi in Ammariya and the Al-Attas Hotel Cinema in Obhur.” Arab News, October 25, 2007 (Shawwal 14, 1428). “The Importance of Preserving Tolerance in Jeddah,” by Mahmoud Abdul Ghani Sabbagh.
49 “reading the news”: Samar Fatany, interview with author, Jeddah, March 5, 2006.
49 combative Ikhwan: For details of the Njedi and Wahhabi assimilation of Jeddah, see William Ochsenwald’s chapter, “The Annexation of the Hijaz,” in Ayoob and Kosebalaban, Religion and Politics in Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the State, pp. 75 ff.
49 “poor dears”: Sami Nawar, interview with author, Jeddah, February 16, 2006.
49 “No more Valentine’s”: Dr. Enam Abdul Wahhab Ghazzi, interview with author, Jeddah, October 31, 2006.
50 “going to hell”: Mahdi Al-Asfour, interview with author, Qateef, February 20, 2006.
50 judged inappropriate: E-mail from Jon S. Parssinen, April 20, 2008.
50 “copies after class”: Jon P. Parssinen, interview with author, Al-Khobar, January 15, 2008.
50 vanished very early: Hassan Al-Husseini, interview with author, Al-Khobar, January 15, 2008.
50 Koran by heart: Mohammed Al-Rasheed, interview with author, Riyadh, September 20, 2006.
51 “ ‘fanatics with eyes’ ”: Off-the-record interview with author, Jeddah, April 3, 2007.
51 “misleaders of men”: Ibid.
51 in the fire: Ben Dyal, interview with author, Jeddah, September 14, 2007.
52 “go to the mosque”: Abdullah Masry, interview with author, London, July 22, 2007.
53 singing songs: Mahmoud Abdul Ghani Sabbagh, Arab News, October 25, 2007 (Shawwal 14, 1428).
53 “my wife was my wife”: Khaled Al-Maeena, interview with author, Jeddah, March 5, 2006.
Chapter 6: Salafi Soccer
54 degenerate Western culture: Hala Al-Houti, interview with author, Jeddah, April 4, 2006.
55 “straight path”: Koran, sura 1 verse 6.
55 “thirsty lips”: Amrika allati Raaytu (“America That I Saw”) quoted on http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/milestones_Qutub.html#footnote_16.
56 “Westoxification”: Reza Aslan credits this word, Gharbzadegi, to the Iranian social critic Jalal Al-e-Ahmad: Aslan, p. 238.
56 “behavior like animals”: Qutub, p. 119.
56 “Islam . . . is the answer”: Ibid., p. 32.
56 “Islamic way of life”: Ibid., pp. 21, 62, 71.
56 perfect Islamic state: Jamal Khashoggi, interview with author, Jeddah, April 10, 2008.
56 challenge the establishment: I am grateful to Abdullah Al-Muallimi for his analysis of these points.
57 “mosque was full”: Jamal Khashoggi, interview with author, Jeddah, September 7, 2008.
57 football enthusiast: Khaled Batarfi, interview with author, Jeddah, September 23, 2006.
58 trachoma: Information from one of the grandsons of Abdul Aziz.
58 lost his eye: Information from one of the sons of Mohammed Bin Laden.
59 director of public works: In the 1940s, departments like Public Works and Agriculture that later became ministries operated as departments of the Ministry of Finance.
59 “Then behead them”: This remark has been quoted in several versions by several sources. See, for example, Trofimov, p. 162.
59 “seize the holiest place”: Khaled Batarfi, interview with author, Jeddah, September 23, 2006
59 no evidence: Jamal Khashoggi, interview with author, Jeddah, September 7, 2008.
60 Bin Laden construction company: From the SBG (Saudi Binladin Group) website, before its removal from the Internet after September 11, 2001. Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 152, 153.
60 separateness: Osama did have half sisters through his mother’s second marriage.
61 “liberated in that home!”: Interview with a member of the Al-Thagr School group who prefers not to be named, Jeddah, November 15, 2006.
Chapter 7: Jihad in Afghanistan
62 “in cash”: Ahmed Badeeb, interview with author, Jeddah, July 26, 2006.
63 “freedom fighters”: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Washington, DC, May 10, 2006.
63 sum was in the millions: U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing: 490 notes weigh 1 lb. www.bep.treas.gov.
64 crisp $100 bills: Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 72.
64 support the mujahideen: Khaled Batarfi, interview with author, Jeddah, September 23, 2006.
64 some historians: See, for example, Thomas Hegghammer’s Jihad in Saudi Arabia.
64 protest could be permitted: Alexei Vassiliev, The History of Saudi Arabia, p. 296.
65 “brave men in the mountains”: Recollection to the author by a government minister, Jeddah, November 30, 2008.
65 Koran printing plant: Ottaway, pp. x, xi.
65 handed a check: MEES, vol. 23, no. 32 (May 26, 1980).
66 the Safari Club: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Paris, September 1, 2006.
66 “Soviet atheism”: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, interview with author, Riyadh, April 10, 2007.
67 “any means necessary”: State of the Union address, January 23, 1980.
67 undercover guerrilla campaign: Bronson, p. 149.
67 $3 billion each: Rachel Bronson, “Understanding U.S.-Saudi Relations,” in Aarts and Nonneman, p. 383.
Chapter 8: Special Relationship
68 annual flow of pilgrims: Monroe, p. 173.
68 entertain the chiefs: Public Records Office, Kew, ibid.: E1119/266/25, Biscoe to SSC, February 5, 1932, para. 8.
68 oil in Arabia: Philby, p. 78.
69 1933: This tale is dated to 1933 by Madawi Rasheed in her History of Saudi Arabia, p. 91, and she has confirmed this date in e-mails with the author. Other Saudi historians maintain that the incident occurred as many as twenty years earlier, when Abdul Aziz was entertaining the British officer Captain Shakespear in Nejd. One grandson of the king says that Abdul Aziz actually lifted the preacher bodily off the podium, and that the British official whose presence offended the sheikh was Sir Percy Cox, who negotiated the first pension paid by the British government to Ibn Saud. It is possible that similar incidents occurred more than once.
69 “fire will seize you”: Koran, sura 11, verse 113.
69 “To you be your way”: Ibid., sura 109, verses 1-6.
69 three hundred thousand mainland patients: Thomas Lippman, “The Pioneers,” Aramco World 55, no. 3 (May-June 2004).
70 king’s aging father: Ibid.
70 “you are very far away!”: Hart, p. 38.
70 “after the money”: Al-Mana, p. 223.
70 on board the USS Murphy: This account of Abdul Aziz’s journey to Suez and his meeting with Roosevelt is based on William Eddy’s monograph F.D.R. Meets Ibn Saud.
71 “Arabs wage war”: Ibid., p. 34.
71 “favor”: Encyclopedia Britannica Online, retrieved July 3, 2007, “Balfour Declaration.”
71 “no move hostile”: Eddy, p. 34.
72 America’s largest: Vitalis, p. 9.
72 “trust the United States”: Rachel Bronson, “Understanding U.S.-Saudi Relations,” in Aarts and Nonneman, p. 392.
72 caught him visiting: Vitalis, p. 233.
73 Louisiana: Simpson, p. 57.
74 “all the votes”: Ibid., p. 58.
74 “factual inaccuracies”: E-mail of October 1, 2008, to author from Peter J. Johnson in David Rockefeller’s office.
74 switched funds: “As for the movem
ent of $200 million in and out of Chase in 1978, the bank had two principal vehicles for work with Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, which began operations in 1975, and the Saudi Investment Banking Corporation, which opened its doors in 1977. Both had been undertaken at the request of SAMA and involved Chase in direct economic development efforts in Saudi Arabia. SAMA’s principal correspondent bank in the United States was Citibank, which held huge deposits. Why SAMA would have moved money from Chase to Morgan and not Citibank is unclear, as is the fact that the Saudis even had $200 million on deposit for whatever reason at Chase to begin with.” E-mail of October 1, 2008, to author from Peter J. Johnson in David Rockefeller’s office.